Influencing and being influenced
28 December 2011Here’s another gym-inspired post. This time I was noticing how I run faster on the treadmill and generally try harder when there’s someone else on the next treadmill. If they’re faster than me (and most of them are) I’ll try and go faster too. If they’re slower than me, I notice a slight sense of…
Exploring the Edges of Work II
18 August 2011Anyone visiting recently will probably know that I’m exploring the edges of work – offering a series of short workshops to explore how we might move beyond the rigidity of existing systems and processes to open up workplace creativity, innovation and agility – especially when the currency of much of today’s work is ideas. So…
Join me at these events?
31 May 2011There’s lots of up-sides to travelling and working in different countries. Not the least, I love it! The major down-side seems to be losing touch with locals. So I’m looking forward to these local events and would love to say hello to you at any of them. Gathering ’11 – To build better futures: Melbourne…
Co-facilitating: how hard can it be?
19 April 2011Can you pick the co-facilitators in this pic? A few recent incidents have thrown co-facilitating into sharp relief and helped clarify some of my own experiences and expectations of working closely with others. Co-facilitating can be a joy with the right person and a nightmare with someone else, simply creating even more work and stress…
In the midst of facilitation training
28 February 2011Tomorrow we start week two of three weeks of facilitation training. It’s a long time since I’ve done so much training in such a short time. Three diverse groups. I’ve been thinking about how this training is quite different from the sort of training I did when I first started facilitating way back in the…
The basis of successful collaborations
2 November 2010“They hit it off, and decided to collaborate, eventually producing PayPal.” This was a comment on a program called The Virtual Revolution about the beginnings of PayPal. While the story of PayPal as a new global monetary system is interesting, it’s the first four words of the quote that really interests me. That’s because I believe…
What’s possible?
19 September 2010At a workshop recently, Andrew Campbell said that ‘the only barriers are in your mind’. Yesterday I watched Chris Anderson of TED fame talking about the future of TED talks – of taking the one to many format, which has provided so many of us with access to amazing people and great talks, into a…
Adventures in facilitation (in London!)
11 August 2010I like this cartoon by Hugh MacLeod (you can subscribe to his daily cartoon here) because it captures how I’m feeling about a visit to London and surrounds in September and October. It will be an adventure in many ways. You might have heard me bang on about facilitation from time-to-time. Okay, a lot then. I…
Sustainable is Attainable
11 August 2010In May, I was involved in a conference called Show Me The Change – all about sustainability, evaluation, behaviour change and complexity. There were lots of expectations regarding the conference and its outcomes. But here’s one that was probably unexpected. It was a conference about sustainability, so we concluded that the conference itself should be…
The surprising power of open space
18 July 2010Regular readers will be aware that I’m a fan of open space. And this week I was inspired by Stella Duffy and her experience of using open space to make theatre. Made me wonder if I’ve been limiting my own use of the form, and gave me a few ideas to chew over. Stella has…